Chapter 18: The Second Bout

“So what did you make of those two?” Gretel asked in barely concealed mocking tone.

“Yeah…” Lexi’s voice positively dripped with sarcasm, and was all that was needed for the two adventurers to collapse against one another in a small fit of giggles.

“The little fucking twink is definitely a no-go,” Lexi said after a moment. “He looks like he needs his mommy. The old guy was interesting, but something tells me that he’s a one-trick pony.”

Gretel gave the paladin a confused look.

“Err, you guys must not have that expression in your…city,” Lexi scrambled to cover the Earth jargon. “What I mean is that I doubt that trick with the slow walk and apparently lazy sword handling would work anywhere but in a match like this, and only against an opponent like the twink who had no idea how to size up another fighter.”

“I see what you mean,” the mage said nodding. “And I agree entirely. The first few matches usually don’t showcase the guild’s best novices, but it’s kind of a gamble who might fight first — which is why I wanted to make sure we got here right at the start.”

“The other thing with the old guy,” Lexi continued, her face growing slightly red. “Is that he was super fucking ugly! If we’re going to be doing any…ummm…sparring like you and I did yesterday, then there’s no goddamn way I want us linking up with anyone who isn’t good looking on top of being a capable fighter.”

Gretel giggled into her hands, bright blue eyes sparkling with glee.

“What can I say?” Lexi said with a shrugged grin. “I’m shallow like that.”

While the girls were chatting over the first bout’s combatants, another pair of fighters had climbed the steps onto their respective sides of the platform. On the left, they saw a pretty young woman with long chestnut colored hair and stern looking brown eyes that looked ready to spit venom at her counterpart on the platform.

She wore a simple short sleeved blue tunic that was belted at the waist on top of a pair of loose pants that were tucked into comfortable looking leather boots. She carried with her a long wooden staff, which she twirled around as expertly as any martial artist Lexi had seen, coming to rest with the staff planted on the platform in front of her imposingly.

Her opponent looked to be maybe ten years older than the girl — maybe around thirty, Lexi guessed — and positively oozed sleaziness. Everything from his manicured goatee, smarmy smile, and salacious expression just reminded the paladin of the legions of fraternity “bros” who had infested her university back on Earth. Lexi found herself unconsciously grinding her teeth and clenching her fists, heart pounding slightly as she sized the man up.

Skeevy or not, he too moved like an experience fighter, light on his feet, with a lean musculature clearly visible through his own loose fitting tunic and tight leather trousers. Matching the girl, he also bore a similarly sized wooden staff. And, although he did not enter the platform with any demonstrations of skill like the girl had, Lexi did not doubt that he knew how to use it.

He gave the girl a leering grin as he assumed his position opposite to her, while she silently continued to stare daggers into him. It was clear to Lexi that these two knew each other, and that there was undoubtedly some bad blood between them.

“Do you think this is, like, a grudge match or something?” the paladin asked. “She looks ready to murder him.”

“Definitely,” Gretel nodded. “It’s not at all uncommon for adventurers to use these matches as a way to legally settle disputes. If someone challenges you to a public match, it’s kind of a big deal if you don’t show up.”

“So this guy has obviously done something to piss her off,” Lexi chuckled. “I wonder if she’s up to the task?”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t make any bets on this one yet,” the mage said. “They both look pretty decent so far.”

“Our next match,” the announcer’s magically enhance voice boomed, “is a challenge bout, between Annalise Mueller and Gerhard Schmidt.”

Mingled cheers and jeers erupted from the stands on all sides. Apparently, challenge matches were quite popular among the crowd.

“Do either of you have any words for your opponent before we begin?” Johann asked the two new competitors.

Gerhard merely snorted in derision at the notion he had anything to say to the girl, and continued leering at her, an act which was likely calculated on his part to further enrage her — a tactic which worked spectacularly. Annalise exploded, pointing an accusatory finger at the man.

“Bastard, you raped my sister!” she shouted, her voice trembling with more rage than could be contained by her petite frame.

“Rape?” he chuckled. “You’ve got it all wrong, girlie. We were sparring, and I was just showing her a new technique.”

A gale of distinctly male laughter erupted from the onlookers around Lexi and Gretel, which set Lexi’s own blood boiling to match that of Annalise.

There was, apparently, nothing more to be said on the topic. The girl resumed a facade of control over her tempest of emotions, and concluded the “discussion” by spitting derisively on the platform in Gerhard’s direction. Seeing that this was the case, the small announcer deftly hopped off the platform, clearing the way for the combat to ensue.

“Begin!”

With a fierce cry, Annalise twirled her staff above her head in a hurricane-like arc, and dashed towards Gerhard — seemingly intent on wiping the smug expression from his face as quickly as possible. At the last moment, Gerhard whipped his own staff up into a blocking position, intercepting the strike with a thunderous crack as the two staves connected.

Annalise’s intensity did not waver even for a moment. Following Gerhard’s initial parry, she launched into a furious combination of short thrusting and swiping strikes. Gerhard was able to dodge or parry all of the strikes, but was driven back in the process, a thin sheen of sweat now covering his brow. The carefree expression which had once graced his admittedly handsome face, however, had been replaced with a mask of cold anger — as if he was somehow personally offended that this girl would dare strike out at him in such a way.

“I hope he fucks her up!”

“What!? I want to see her beat HIS ass!”

“You’re both idiots. Let’s see ’em FUCK!”

Lexi was more than a bit put off by the comments she heard flying around, especially the sexually charged tone of those leveled at the young woman. Still, she figured that this kind of talk was just that — talk — and was probably just part and parcel of this kind of charged atmosphere. Never having been to so much as a basketball or football game before, Lexi found that she had no standard from which to judge this. The entirety of the situation was completely novel.

In the split second interval following Annalise’s flurry of blows, Gerhard was able to seize the initiative, reversing the fight’s momentum by coming in quick with a thrust aimed straight at the girl’s face. Although Annalise’s staff shot up in time to block the lightening-fast jab, it proved to be a cleverly executed feint. At the last moment, Gerhard snapped the end of his staff in a hooking motion, landing a hard blow across the back of Annalise’s right hand.

“Ahhh!” she cried out in pain, letting go of her staff involuntarily, and clenching the injured — possibly broken — hand to her now heaving breast.

Not one to ease up after gaining such a clear advantage, Gerhard continued to press forward, aiming blow after blow at Annalise. To her credit, the girl was able to parry the first half-dozen strikes one-handed. Yet, in the end, Gerhard was able to land another cracking blow to her uninjured hand, causing Annalise to drop her staff to the platform’s wooden floor. Her fighting spirit true to the end, the girl made a final attempt to ball her wounded hands up into fists, making herself ready for the next attack which she knew must be immanent.

“She’s done for now,” Gretel said casually. “The only question left is how this guy chooses to finish it, because I don’t think she’s going to give in.”

“No way,” Lexi concurred with a nod. “She’s too emotionally invested in it to throw in the towel. I just hope he’s not too hard on her.”

Gerhard leaped in like a flash, feinting again towards Annalise’s face. In her frazzled state, she fell for the ruse again, throwing her forearms up to block the phantom strike. Instead, Gerhard sidestepped her entirely, and whirled his staff around in a sweeping arc that connected with the backs of both knees — knocking Annalise flat on her back.

At this point, Lexi figured that the fight was nearly over. From this position, the girl had no hope of defending against any further blows, and would surely either be incapacitated or would submit in no time. However, rather than strike any blows at all, Gerhard shouted out a magical command word, activating a spell.

“Etheric Bonds!”

A pair of thick golden bands, wrought of semi-transparent light, formed themselves around Annalise’s arms and torso — pinning both arms tight to her side. She struggled mightily at the magical bonds’ constriction, but it was to no avail. They held her fast. The girl kicked her legs viciously at the once again smirking Gerhard, who approached her with a deft grace, keen to avoid any kicks to sensitive areas.

He shot in like a grappler, parting her legs with defensively positioned forearms, and landing with his own hips thrust up against hers — her legs involuntarily spread wide from his positioning. Before Lexi could even voice her growing concern to the mage about the course this fight was taking, Gerhard had reached down and ripped the bound girl’s loose pants apart, right down the crotch’s seam — revealing a pair of quivering red pussy lips with a moderately large, but trimmed, thatch of cropped brown pubic hair above.

“Fuck her in the pussy!”

“No, fuck her in the ASS!”

“You’re both daft. Let ME fuck her!”

A wave of nausea washed over Lexi at both the tidal wave of lewd comments and lascivious laughter that washed over her from all sides as well as the brute fact that the girl on the arena floor — a fellow warrior — was very likely about to be raped by what the paladin thought of as Astyanax’s equivalent of a douchey frat bro.

“I-is this allowed!?” Lexi sputtered, finding it hard to breath through the great gulps of air she was sucking in.

“Very much,” Gretel said with a shrug. “Combat is combat, whether strictly physical or if it’s got some erotic dimension. You know that it makes sense to train for both types, since adventurers will almost definitely face each at some point in their tenure. Still, it’s not looked on very highly to do something like this to a fellow adventurer in public. Most adventurers like to do that kind of sparring,” she gave Lexi a coy wink, “in private. But, these kinds of guys don’t care about that. They’ll use public matches as a way to try and have sex with inexperienced young girls who’re too proud to tap out.”

“Gross!” Lexi cried, her blood boiling.

“No argument from me on that, but she knew the risks going in. If I were to bet, I’d wager that her sister’s ‘rape’ was something more or less exactly like what’s about to happen to her.”

In the few short seconds it took the girls to converse, Gerhard had unlaced his leather trousers and pulled out his cock, which was, to Lexi’s eye, decent enough in length, but a bit on the thin side — no where near the girth of her impressive futa cock. He was at least enough of a “gentleman” to hawk a big wad of spit into his palm, slathering his cock with saliva and phlegm before aiming the tip right between Annalise’s puffy red pussy lips and spearing her.

“N-nooo!” the bound fighter cried.

Tears of pain and shame rolled down her cheeks, as her cries were drowned out by the bawdy cheers of the onlookers, and the slapping sounds of Gerhard’s balls against her ass cheeks as he pounded her cunt. She was defeated in that moment, and in more ways than one. Gerhard had already gotten the better of her by disarming and then binding her, but now she felt the unmistakable signs of her own body beginning to betray her.

Try as Annalise might, she was unable to stave off the wholly unwanted orgasm that was building within her. Hating herself as much as she hated the man atop her, she found her hips involuntarily rocking in time with her rapist’s thrusts, her cries of dissent transforming into lust-filled moans. Before she even knew what was happening, Annalise felt her pussy spasm around the intruder’s cock, the fire in her lower belly exploding throughout her entire body with tingling waves of orgasmic bliss.

Wanting to put on a good show for the crowd and knowing his own orgasm was immanent, Gerhard pulled himself out at the last moment, jerking himself off to spray a load of cum right onto Annalise’s tear-streaked face. Thick ropes of cum clung to her cheeks, and dripped off her nose onto her trembling lips. Her climax fading fast, the shame returned in spades, the girl now wracked with sobs as she lay there, her treasonous pussy exposed to the crowd, and her face now covered in the evidence of her own weakness and defeat.

“Gerhard is the victor!” boomed the enhanced magical voice of the announcer.